Toru Kubota, a freed Japanese filmmaker, describes his detention in Myanmar as “hell”

Toru Kubota, a Japanese filmmaker imprisoned in Myanmar for nearly four months, described some of his treatment as “hell” and urged Tokyo to take a tougher stance against human rights violations in the military-controlled country.

Describing conditions in a police lockup where he was first held after being detained at a protest in July, Toru Kubota told reporters that “It was horrible. I understood the concept of hell.”

He stated that the cramped, filthy, and overcrowded cell was too small for him to comfortably lie down to sleep in and that he had seen other prisoners being struck with batons.

He claimed that he was held in solitary confinement after being later transferred to Myanmar’s infamous Insein jail, which dates back to the colonial era.